Nearly Half of Lod’s Price-Tamken Winners Sell Apartments for 1.2 Million Shekel Profit

Almost half of the winners in the Price-Tamken housing project in Lod have sold their apartments less than eight years after receiving the keys. Out of approximately 340 units in the project, 150 have already been sold to second-hand buyers by the original winners, with another 13 units pending sale. The nominal profit, representing the difference between purchase and sale prices, averages around 1.2 million shekels. These figures were revealed by Galit Ben Naim, Deputy Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance, in a tweet on the social media platform X. Ben Naim oversees the monthly real estate market review, and her post serves as a preview for a more detailed analysis expected in the upcoming July report.

The financial gain stems both from rising market prices and a state subsidy of several hundred thousand shekels granted to lottery winners. According to Madlan’s analysis, if sellers had bought their apartments on the open market instead of through Price-Tamken, their profits would have been about 40% lower, roughly 700,000 shekels. This highlights the distortion caused by the Price-Tamken program, which was originally intended to provide affordable housing for young people but has effectively turned many winners into investors who capitalized on a significant state benefit and exited at the earliest opportunity.

The project examined by Ben Naim was developed by Zohar and Tzafrir Sharbat on Shevet Yehuda Street in the Ahisamach neighborhood of Lod. The company won the Israel Land Authority tender in November 2015, shortly after Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon launched the Price-Tamken program. At that time, competition among builders focused on offering the lowest apartment price, with land costs predetermined by the authority. The Sharbat brothers sold apartments at about 8,200 shekels per square meter including VAT, with an average unit price around 850,000 shekels. The lottery took place in early April 2016, and winners signed purchase contracts within two weeks.

Four months after the lottery, non-Price-Tamken apartments in the same neighborhood sold for about 1.3 million shekels, giving Price-Tamken winners an immediate advantage of approximately 500,000 shekels. Buyers were allowed to sell their apartments five years after moving in, which occurred in 2018. Tax Authority data shows a surge in resale transactions starting exactly five years later, in June 2023, continuing into 2026, with current market prices near 2 million shekels. Despite a stagnant housing market, dozens of units have sold quickly in this project. Winners benefit from a roughly 500,000 shekel state subsidy, allowing them to accept slightly lower prices while still making substantial profits. It is plausible some sellers never lived in their units but rented them out before deciding to sell and reduce mortgage debt.

Madlan CEO Tal Kopel told Calcalist that Price-Tamken buyers continue to earn profits far exceeding those of open-market sellers, prompting the government to limit discounts in newer subsidy programs like "Target Price" and "Discounted Apartment." Last week, the 11th lottery for discounted apartments closed with nearly 115,000 applicants competing for about 8,000 units. This is expected to be the last lottery offering apartments in high-demand central areas, as discounts decrease in peripheral regions. Despite its flaws, the program is unlikely to be canceled by politicians, though its economic costs and damages have been minimized.